Find out if your suppliers are still performing as well as you want them to

We found this good article courtesy of bluqube who offer accountancy software and thought you might find it interesting. It’s a set of criteria you can apply to your suppliers to see if they are up to scratch. But we would also suggest applying it to your business – you know, the power to see ourselves as other see us! (Obviously they are looking to flog their online system so the questions are geared a bit to this)

Are their processes just a little bit last year?

Look for the telltale signs: mountains of paperwork. jargon. techy language. You simply don’t need any of that stuff anymore. If your supplier is working this way it can mean one of only two things. Either they are too stuck in their ways to invest in newer and better ways of working. Or, and let’s hope it’s not this, they’re trying to hide something. Either way, it’s not good news for your organisation.

Are they just hopping on the cloud bandwagon?

If you haven’t started using cloud yet, you might want to take a peek at it. But if your supplier doesn’t have many customers using cloud, that’s when the alarm bells start ringing. A recent survey by the Cloud Industry Forum found that 78% of all UK organisations have at least one service in the cloud computing area. If you’re not one of them but you’re considering it for the future, you’ll need to make absolutely sure your supplier’s cloud platform is one you can trust.

Do they have difficulty sharing?

Take a look at your Smartphone. If it’s an Apple device, it can open Microsoft emails and Word docs. If it’s an Android, it can sync with iTunes. We live in a beautiful world where devices and systems can talk to each other. So if you love using one supplier’s finance solution, but they’re telling you it won’t talk to another supplier’s HR system, ask them why not. You should be able to use the systems you like, without being dictated to by your supplier. The technology is there already, so why are they trying to tie you in knots? Is it because they’re putting their needs before yours?

Are they in sync?

These days, any change to any part of your data can instantly be updated everywhere else across your systems. In real time. If your supplier can’t do this, you’re making do with second best. Forget old school integration, we’re talking complete transactional interoperability, in real time, in a really user friendly way.

How quickly can they get things moving?

You’ve got 101 things to do. Business, family, in tray, emails etc etc. But if you put everything to one side and said, right, let’s get this system implemented, would your supplier be ready and willing? Ask them outright. How long would it take to get everything up and running? The answer really shouldn’t be months. Of course, the longer they take, the more they bill. But it’s not just that. They’re probably going at a dinosaur’s pace because they haven’t invested in their processes. Are you really getting a fair deal?

Who’s on the guest list?

Can everyone who needs to actually see reports and input data? Can your senior managers and teams see reports and dashboards at-a-glance? Can managers keep a tab on their own budgets, and can teams take care of their own admin needs? After all, you want to make sure everyone in your organisation gets the info they need, when they need it. Once you’ve got that sorted, the finance team can focus on their own job without having to compile reports for everybody else.

Do they pass the five year test?

Where will your supplier be in five years? And where will you be? Are those places the same, or different? If you think you might be using more web-based software, let’s hope your supplier is investing in developing new solutions. Because if they’re not, you could soon be dying for an alternative. And your supplier could soon be dying out.